Your baby is 13 weeks old

Your baby is 13 weeks old!

Your baby's development

This month will mark the start of a 'social' period for your baby, which can last all through babyhood and beyond. He hasn’t quite reached the ‘clingy’ stage and literally smiles and charms anyone close by. Your baby may be able to lift his head up a little further this month, probably somewhere near 90 degrees whilst on his tummy. This, however, is just a guide and lots of babies are nowhere near this stage yet.

The time your 13 week old baby spends on his tummy is very important as it helps him to develop strong neck and head muscles and also the muscles that will enable him to crawl. Make sure you supervise ‘tummy time’ when your baby is young.

Routines

By three months it is probably time to start helping your 13 week old baby get into some kind of routine if she isn’t already in one. Many parents obsess about this, mostly because of ‘helpful’ advice from others that they should have a routine sorted by now.

Most 13 week old babies will fall into a routine of sorts by themselves – for example, you were probably advised by your pediatrician to feed your baby on a three-hourly routine until she’s old enough to drop certain feeds, or her stomach is mature enough to go longer.

If your 13 week old baby feeds sporadically it might be a good idea to try the three/four-hourly routine, just so you have a bit of structure to your day. Babies gain a sense of security from knowing what’s coming next and she might be happier eating at designated times rather than snacking throughout the day. 'Sleeping through the night’ is also a deceptive term, as it usually refers to your baby having six hours of uninterrupted sleep. This means if she falls asleep at 11pm and wakes at 5am she has had her night’s sleep, even though you haven’t! Bear with her for the time being and try to encourage good sleep habits by setting-up a good routine before she goes to bed (bath, PJs, lullaby or story, feed, bed) and try not to let her drift off while she nurses or has her bedtime bottle feed.